AN: For all the Remus lovers out there ... =D
Professor R.J. Lupin arrived at King’s Cross station two hours early. He had been promised a place on the Hogwarts Express, and wondered dully if anything had changed. All he had was a battered old trunk with his name on it, and the promise of a job; the promise of somewhere to stay. He looked around the busy train station, but there were none of his kind yet. He was tired, and yawned. The thought occurred that he should sleep on the train “ that way, any students could have their catching up chat without worrying about a teacher listening in.
Maybe it was the tiredness, or the sheer nostalgia of being back here, but it suddenly seemed that he was back in time, remembering this day many years ago, when he was only eleven years old.
Young Remus Lupin looked around frantically, nervous and quite twitchy. His mother laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“It’s all right, sweetie, you’ll be okay. Mr Dumbledore said he had it all worked out, didn’t he? You might even make some new friends.”
Remus looked around, wondering who he might make friends with, out of all these kids. A boy to his right caught his eye “ devilishly handsome, even for his young age. Black hair was casually swept across his face, and smoky eyes seared out. There was a younger boy next to him, probably his brother. While the older one was oozing confidence, the other was hiding behind his father, nervously, looking at all the people mistrustfully. His older brother strolled ahead.
“Look at that!” the mysterious boy exclaimed, pointing at nothing in particular. “These Muggles are so smart! When I grow up“” he tossed his hair, and gave his stern looking parents a daring glance, asking them to reprimand him ““I want to be a Muggle, too!”
The boy’s mother snapped. “Sirius P Black!” she hissed, grabbing him by the ear, and dragging him through the barrier between the platforms, yelling at him all the way. Remus smiled a little, and looked towards his other side, which revealed a very different family scene. A young boy also about his age was standing in between his parents, looking embarrassed to be seen with them, as young boys often are.
“I told you,” the boy said, “that I’m fine!” His mother immediately started fussing with his hair, which stood every which way, without any kind of order.
“Now, you be good when you get to Hogwarts, my son. Don’t go messing your teachers about, all right? They may not be as forgiving as me or your mother were.”
“Of course, Dad,” the boy said, sighing. “And I promise to try and not break anything, scare or upset anyone, or go anywhere I shouldn’t.”
“Or,” his father began, in a loving, yet warning tone, “escape from anywhere you should be staying. Because I don’t care how easy it was to climb out of the window, or up the chimney, or through a tunnel. If you are told to stay somewhere, then “”
“Stay there. All right. But, you know, sometimes these things happen, I just can’t help it if there’s a key in the door.”
His mother swiped him round the ear playfully at his cheekiness, but he merely ducked, and laughed. They headed through the barrier too.
“Coming through!” called a voice behind Remus. He turned around to see a trolley hurtling towards him, and ducked out of the way just in time. The person pushing the trolley yelled in fright, as they veered to the left to avoid hitting a small child. Instead of going through the barrier, he went straight onto platform nine and knocked into one of the metal benches, causing the trunk on his trolley to go flying.
“Peter!” called a woman’s voice, and she pushed past Remus to get to the boy. Now that he had come to a halt, Remus could see that the boy had dark blonde hair, and was quite “well built” for a young boy his age (that’s what his Mum would term it, anyway).
“Sorry, Mum,” the boy said. “I missed.”
“Oh, Peter, I told you not to make a run for it! Come on, I’ll walk you through this time, it’s really not so bad ...” The boy gave a sheepish grin to his mother, and began reloading his trolley, before they walked straight through the barrier.
Yes, Remus thought, just who would he manage to befriend during his time at Hogwarts?
Professor Lupin sighed. No point waiting around drawing attention to himself. He might as well just go onto the platform and wait there. He walked up to the barrier and, checking that no one was watching him, slipped through. It was empty, of course, and the train hadn’t even arrived yet, but that was of no matter.
He sat down on a bench, and waited. As his mind began to wander, another flashback came to him, and he saw himself standing on this very platform, about to begin his third year at Hogwarts.
“Lupin! Oi, Lupin! Remus!” Remus grinned, recognising the voice, but did not turn around, merely slowed his pace to a leisurely stroll. “Remus John Lupin, are you deaf, man?”
The owner of the voice finally caught up with him. “Oh, James!” Remus cried, feigning surprise. “I didn’t hear you, some Neanderthal was busting his lungs bellowing across the platform.”
James rolled his eyes. “Funny, Moony. Funny.”
Remus frowned. “I told you not to call me that.”
“You can give me an irritating nickname, if you like,” James reasoned.
“No I can’t. You don’t have a ...” he lowered his voice, “problem that I can make fun of. Lucky swine.”
“You think I’m lucky with this hair? Why don’t you call me ‘Fluffy-Pineapple-Crossed-With-A-Hedgehog Head’? It has a great comedic ring to it.”
Now it was Remus’s turn to roll his eyes. James slung an arm around his shoulder.
“You and me, Moony, we’re one of the same. Both cursed for life with an incurable ailment. Pete too, he can join the deformed club, what with that stodgy build of his. Of course, Sirius is out, ruddy gorgeous Man-God that he is.”
“What’s that?” cried a loud voice nearby, and Sirius strolled up to them, hand cupped around his ear. “Was my divine name mentioned amongst you two lowly peasants?”
“Nah, mate,” James replied, grinning. “We were talking about Snivellus. Now there’s one hunk of man ...”
The boys snickered cruelly as Severus Snape walked past, and glared at them.
“Hey, guys, where’s Peter? I swear I saw him a minute ago ...” Sirius went on tiptoes trying to see above the crowd. “He can’t be lost ...”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” James pointed out good humouredly, and raised up onto his own toes to look above the throng, too.
The train whistled, and the boys shot panicked looks at each other. “Where the flip is he?” Sirius asked.
“I’m here!” someone shouted, breathlessly, as the crowd began to thin rapidly. Peter came into view, pushing his trolley at break neck speed. He brought it to a halt when he reached his friends at the final carriage, and they hurriedly loaded on their trunks, and hopped in.
“Bye, Mum!” Peter yelled out of the window. The other three waved at their families, too, and Sirius made sure he was dong it deliberately effeminately, and even blew them a sarcastic kiss.
“Gits,” he muttered, when the train rounded a corner.
“Come on, guys,” Remus said. “Let’s go sit down.”
Back in the present, Professor Lupin smiled to himself. That was always their carriage, the one on the end, ever since First Year when they all unexpectedly wound up there “ the first time they met properly. He had a sudden urge to be there again, amongst the echoes of those memories. He suddenly missed his friends, with an overwhelming sense of grief. But there was no point getting lost in all that again. James and Peter were dead. Sirius “ the Sirius he knew “ might as well be. A small part of his mind boldly stated that things would be better off if he was dead, but the Marauder that remained inside rejected this thought strongly. There was a whistle, and the scarlet engine pulled into the station.
Don’t think about Sirius, Lupin told himself, standing up wearily. He’s evil. Your friend is gone. That’s one of the reasons you took this job, isn’t it? To protect Harry from his Godfather, however obscurely you do so?
He stood in front of the train, surveying the range of choice offered to him. A young boy came hurtling into view, obviously having taken the barrier at a run. “Wow!” the boy cried, as his family came into view around him, smiling proudly at his excitement. Lupin smiled at the young boy, reminded strongly of Peter. He turned and faced the train again. The smile slowly turned into a grin as he looked towards the end carriages.
He knew which one to take.
Fifteen-year-old Remus was playing exploding snap with Peter, and listening to James and Sirius rave about the Quidditch season that summer. It was raining heavily outside, but this didn’t seem to bother them that much.
Eventually, after every team, game and player had been discussed and analysed within an inch of their life, a silence fell over the compartment, apart from the slapping of cards on the table. Both Remus and Peter put down a card with a pumpkin on it.
Remus, whose reflexes were unusually advanced because he was a werewolf, said “Snap,” before Peter even opened his mouth. The cards exploded, and Peter toppled off his seat. Sirius laughed heartily, and the momentary silence ended.
“You know, I’m feeling good about this year,” Sirius said. “I think we might finally be able to complete The Project.”
“Really?” asked Peter, scrambling back onto his seat. “What makes you say that?”
“I’m just getting a vibe, that’s all.” Neither Remus nor James said anything. James seemed to be in a whole new world of his own, while Remus was staring downwards.
“What’s up, Moony? Second thoughts?” asked Peter.
“Stop calling me that. And I dunno ... Dumbledore did make me Prefect for a reason, you know.”
“Yeah, but it was probably by process of elimination. James would misuse his powers completely. Pete would be ruddy terrible “ sorry, mate, it’s true “ and I’m just too damned sexy for that shiny badge of yours,” Sirius reasoned, grinning, and winking.
“Well ... I should probably try and restrain you a little bit ... otherwise it’s just rude.”
Sirius thought about this comment for a moment, and then said, “All right. I’ll go off just now, planning to kill Snape, you restrain me with your manly authority, and then you can tell Dumbledore the truth “ that you stopped me before I crossed the line between loveably mischievous and downright off the rails. You savvy?”
Remus rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t work like that.” Nevertheless, he couldn’t help smiling.
“Hey, James,” Peter said, looking over to their friend. “What’s wrong with you?”
They all turned and watched him, as he stared out of the window, blankly. “Oi, gormless!” Sirius barked, throwing an Every Flavour Bean at his head.
“Ow! What was that for?”
Sirius shrugged. “You were in danger of looking a bit out of it, mate. What on Earth could you have been thinking of to miss our exciting discussion of Prefect ethics?”
“Lily,” James said, sounding as confused at this answer as everybody else.
“Evans?” asked Peter, surprised.
“Yeah ... funny, that. Don’t know what made me think of her.”
Sirius shook his head. “Me neither. Maybe you’re in lo-ove ...”
“As if,” James scoffed, and flicked his own bean at Sirius. It wasn’t long before the multi-coloured ammo was being shot all around the carriage, and Remus laughed as he dodged several bullets flying through the air. What did responsibility matter with friends like these?
Professor Lupin surveyed the Great Hall. Despite sleeping through most of it, the journey to Hogwarts had been very eventful. So much so, that Harry and one of his friends “ who miraculously ended up in the same compartment as him “ had not even been here to see the new first years sorted. Not that it was particularly interesting.
And now that it was over, Lupin began to feel his mind slip back into a memory of another time, as he watched some older students on the Gryffindor table laugh and banter with each other. He saw himself at his final sorting, a young seventeen-year-old, surrounded by his friends.
“So, who’d have thought it?” Lily mused, as a temporary hush came over the two parties “ who were not sitting near each other on purpose, but quite by chance. “Potter and I will have to work together all year.”
“Madness, isn’t it, ladies?” Sirius replied, grinning at James’s annoyance.
“You know, my money was on Remus for Head Boy,” said Lily’s friend, Kirsty.
Remus felt himself reddening, and tried desperately not to let her see. Peter noticed this, and (being the good friend he was) changed the subject.
“No, no,” he said, and attention was diverted away from Remus. “It was going to be James all along. He’ll be an excellent Head Boy ... we’ll never get detentions again with him around.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lily said, rolling her eyes. “That’s not how it works.”
Remus smiled briefly at Peter, thanking him for diverting the attention away.
“Pray, tell me, Evans dearest,” James began, an earnest look on his face. “How does it work?”
For a moment, Lily was utterly flabbergasted at this question. She then managed to compose herself. “If you don’t know that by now, we’ve a long year ahead of us.”
“Good,” Sirius stated, happily. “The thought of the outside world is terrifying to my meek and humble mind. Let us stay seventeen forevermore!”
Kirsty laughed, and Sirius winked at her, jovially.
“Somehow, Padfoot, I just don’t think that will happen,” Remus told him, smiling.
“Don’t be ridiculous, man. A bit of age prolonging potion here, a dash of blind, foolish optimism there, and we’re a rollin’!”
“Personally,” James began, taking a swig of pumpkin juice. “I hope the year does last forever. The more time I spend with Evans dearest, the happier I will be. A minute, and I’m contented. An hour, I’ll crack a smile. A day, I’m having a nice time. A week, and I’ll give a titter of joy. A month, things are pretty dandy. But a year ... I might as well be in heaven.” The group laughed, save for Lily, who merely rolled her eyes.
“You’re all idiots,” she told them, plainly. And then she smiled.
Professor Lupin sighed, and tore his eyes away from the Gryffindors, down towards his food. If only the year had lasted forever. If only he was still seventeen. But time had moved on. And what was left of all those young faces? They were dead, they were criminals, or they had left the country (in Kirsty’s case, at least). And now he was here.
He looked around the room, and the safe feeling of familiarity washed over him. A shock of jet black, messy hair caught his eye. For a moment, his heart skipped a beat, and then rationality caught up with him. Not his friend, but the son of his friend. The son he wanted to protect, however he could. He took a sip of his drink, and stabbed a potato with his fork.
No point living in the past.
AN: Poor Remus, I always felt so sorry for him ... at least he has those happy memories. This is what I wrote on holiday, it was good fun, so I hope you enjoyed it ... whatever your opinion, I implore you to leave it in a review, and make my day!